The Spirit of God....

Ever since I have taken to the road the hymns have taken to a new meaning. Nothing like a calm drive from 10 to 12 hours driving around this country (yes I said country) from city to city is much nicer when there is a hymn in the cabin. It allows for me to get back in touch with the basics, you know faith, repentance etc. and separate myself from the grind that can happen from day to day driving.

I have been a driver for over five years now and just recently rediscovered the hymns. Oh sure music and talk shows had a place but nothing really connects people to a more centered and relaxed feeling then the songs of praise. Some would ask about the great songs of the more modern times like the work of Michael W. Smith or  Janice Kapp Perry but there is nothing like getting back to what carried the saints across the plains of the wild west.

I was recently reflecting on their exodus and I thought that perhaps our own will be just as wild when the Savior comes only there will be one big difference, we have become complacent. When the end comes, I wonder what will become of the civility of man; will we attack ourselves for food and shelter, revert to something less then the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air? I fear that no preparedness will ever prepare man for what is to come. To what level with the hymns be to men and women when the wolves and men come for them. Will such hymns like Lead Kindly Light by John H. Newman have the same significance as it did two hundred years ago? I know for some the song is timeless and its meaning is eternal like the scriptures.

When the Saints came across the plains they had only the songs they had grown up with and the hymns that Sister Smith was instructed to put together. Not that many songs but it seems that with their eager spirits, tenacity and perseverance, they made it work. I have never pushed a cart out of the mud or traveled by foot thousands of miles but I have had a sliver of the faith that they have had as I have pushed a car our a snow bank and traveled crossed the country several times (at least a dozen).  I do not know what strength they had in the past but I do know of the songs. I listened to them on my radio and MP3 player. The world has changed a lot.

I do not boost that I am better or faster than those before me and I hope that they see that I am in my own way attempting to use their example in my life. It’s difficult to be sure if I am getting the message right but time will tell.

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Miracles and Signs

It is written that faith precedes the miracle and for those that do not believe the sign precedes the faith. I always wondered why that was and what that was all about. It was while I was reading the scriptures that I came to an inkling of what that might mean or how much relevance to it there was.

God in his infinite wisdom has asked man (of his own free will I might add) to have faith as described in the book of Hebrews and in the book of Alma. This stretch of faith asks us to take part in the eternal prospective that God is always with us. From asking us to pray for guidance to exercising the knowledge (because eventually faith grows to knowledge) that God is with us and if we but ask then we will receive as the Lord wills.

A great example would be this story. One day while on a date with my wife, after enjoying a perfect evening, we had a flat. It was dark and we were on the interstate. Having faith that the Lord would insure our safety I and my wife prayed that we would be safe and proceeded to attempt to change the tire. We ran into a little snag in our plan; we had a tire but we didn't have a source of light. Once again we gathered in the car and we prayed for light; a simple prayer. Went outside and did what we could in the dark. No sooner then we exited the vehicle we were approached by another vehicle. They pulled up from behind and turned of their lights. The woman got out of the drivers seat and thanked us for being there as she had just ran out of gas and was not sure that anyone would be there to help her. We asked her to turn back on her lights and explained our situation. We both laughed at the miracle and took care of our unusual circumstances; she got her gas and we got our tire. How blessed we were that we had such faith.

Nice huh; a story of faith that ended well and was the beginnings of my own faith. I knew that the Lord watched over his flock but I didn't know to what level or haste. It took that experience to start feeding my faith to an outstanding level. I knew that God looked out for me and almost looked for a chance to exercise it again and again. Now trials were not stumbling blocks but opportunities. I no longer had faith that God was watching but I knew. What he did to improve or strengthen my life was a fascination to me and still is.

Now lets look at the other side of the coin; signs. The Lord had shown signs (until he has been blue in the face, in my opinion) to us all. These are events that the Lord has told prophets and seers that would come to pass if wicked didn't obey the commandments; people like you and I. I imagine that to some degree we (as Christians) understand the signs that are coming and whether or not we are prepared the path for them are already laid out and the map drawn if we but see what is ahead. It saddens me that to the faithless that a sign needs to take place. They need waters parted or loaves of plenty to be as a sign that the Lord is with us but we find that such sign seekers end up impaired literally or figuratively because they still want more.

The carnal sensual and devilish self is not content with the sign because it required nothing while faith required everything we knew. I do not know why I was compelled to write this only that I should take to heart what I have written and stretch more and be a doer and not just a watcher. I have watched too much and relied on the experiences of the past without looking to the future. I pray I do not seek a sign but acknowledge the ones that are already present. Perhaps my prayers can be a little more genuine and my faith a little more like knowledge; perhaps my fasting can be more sincere and with more intent and my repentance a little more thorough.  May we all be a little more faithful is my prayer, in the name of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

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Enmity and Apathy

It seems that there is a run of the wicked spirit of the devil that is encouraging enmity (hatred and disdain) and apathy (the feelings of not giving a crap either because it doesn't apply to you or that you do not care). I am not sure why such feelings are running rampant only those world leaders are behind such feelings and are encouraging the behavior. As in the example of King Noah (of the book of Mosiah) the leader starts it and the people wanting to be popular and powerful (and rich I might add) encourage it to trickle down.
The need for a righteous leadership is so prevalent that it is not funny anymore. Former Secretary of Agriculture, Spencer Kimble said "The Constitution is hanging from a thread". That was back in the '80's at a time when I was just a lad. The workers of socialism, Marxism, Leninism and communism (and for that matter Nazism) are working hard to undermine the last stand of freedom and are desperate to create enmity and apathy of our country. It shows in the events that have transpired in the last few months (perhaps years). World leaders using their powers to create wealth and amass more power than they have ever done before. Thomas Jefferson said that this country would be bound by slavery and a hundred years ago it started. It is now worse. The tea party was over 3% tax now we have over ten times that and it was brought on ourselves all because we didn't care or it wasn't about us.
What will happen next to us? Will we fall because of the binds that we put on lady liberty? The election will not come soon enough for this country.

Vampires

Today’s topic is on immortality and the beings that we know as immortals, namely vampires; immortals that have no sense of purpose and wonder the world looking for meaning in their undead lives. While their now ability to roam the earth without fear of natural death and decay, the 'What next" feeling comes of them. I would imagine that this is true for the resurrected. After the judgment and meeting God, the "What next" feeling will kick in. For the Celestial beings, they know what life is all about "to know thee the only true God (John 17:3)". What of the other beings that are now immortal? They may not what to know God. They may want to feed the body for hundreds of years with relationships and trips to where ever, see the sights and hear the sounds but when you have seen the world, what next? Expand the mind? What happens when you have read all the books, poems and scripts? After several centuries, would you want death because life has lost it meaning. There is no end to the riddle, song, story, etc. You become alone with your thoughts.

For those that are religious and say that you will just serve God (not actually become one because you are one; Psalms 82:6 and John 10:34). For those that believe that you become a mindless drone with no identity among the endless masses of angels, I say why would you want that? Here on earth we have identity, purpose and direction we have an end. 

We know that we will grow old and that drives us to push ourselves before the end. Careers and families become important because we identify with them. I believe that in our immortal state we will mimic our mortality. Become reacquainted with us and others; recreate what once was to the best of our ability. To those that are not Gods though, I think that the most missed element of our immortality will be the lack of children. All of them will have had grown up and become adults and because there are no children in the afterlife (except for Celestial being) s it will be missed terribly; not at first but eventually. See there will always be an empty part of immortality without becoming as God is. Who can say how much more will be missed because we become similar to vampires without purpose or direction? Or what direction we would take with no temptation from the bound Satan. We will all find out in the end. 

So how do we avoid the emptiness in our eternal life? The examples of how we should live in the next life comes from the very life that we live now. Yes we have discovery and fun and everything is new as it is for a little child and to keep that will be a challenge if there is no progression. Perhaps we need to find life like those with Alzheimer disease. My mother-in-law tells a story about a couple that every day discovered themselves in each other. They ate together, talked together and all around got to know each other daily but when the day started anew the following sunrise, they started all over because they had no memory of the day before. To me that experience would be horrific but to those two it was exciting and entertaining. 

I have read that for some beings heaven will be like a world where their culture never changed. They will ride the sunsets and run in the wheat and sail the sea like they did in their mortality because they found happiness in that. I have fun myself writing all sorts of things and figuring out new ways to express myself. I read old books and observe the style. I have taken a stab at foreign language and again to me that is fun. 

What will our next life be like? I don't know but thank God it’s not going to be torture like that of a vampire. 

Israel and Palestine

Like two brothers Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Ruben and Joseph, these two nations are forever going to be haters of each other. Not because they are related but they believe that they are right. But I digress, this discussion is not about the two bickering brothers; I am going to discuss a love story.

The story of Hosea and Gomer is a weird one. See the story goes Hosea is told by the Lord that he is to marry a hooker to make his personal life a similitude to what is going to happen to Israel. All the time that the story goes on we learn that the woman goes back to her old ways and old lovers and says that everything that Hosea has given her (or the world has given her) was always from the lovers and not from the Prophet or God who married her in the first place.

Over time the man has to leave is wife to her own devices and for the longest time she feels abandoned. Then when she is at her lowest, mind you she is still married, he pulls her out.

Now this is a reflection of what is going to happen to God's children, but it seems to me that this story has happened over and over and we have been left to a physical wilderness over and over. Each time we repented and returned to god. Now to tie this all back to the first paragraph. We have wondered from God in a lot of ways, I speak for Christians and Americans. Where is the wilderness now that we need it the most?

I read the story over and over. The prophet who represented God left his wife to her own devices. Our country has been turning to their false gods and strange lovers, claiming that they have given our wealth and power. The god of Israel is no longer part of our main stream but a secret underground movement. I just hope that we can turn around in time. Perhaps we need to lose the very thing that we love before we truly turn back. Time will tell if we will be like Gomer and lose everything before we turn back, becoming naked slaves embarrassed and ashamed like a dirty rotten whores before God.